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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Trump Headlines Crypto Event That Charges $1.5M A Plate; Trump Questions Due Process For Migrants, Promises To Always Follow Supreme Court Rulings; Interview With Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA); Jury Selection Begins In Sean "Diddy" Combs Federal Trial; Netanyahu Vows To Relocate Gaza's Population After Security Cabinet Approves Plan To "Conquer" The Enclave; President Trump Wants To Reopen Alcatraz, Symbol Of "Law & Order". Aired 8-9p ET

Aired May 05, 2025 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARDINAL WILLIAM SENG CHYE, ARCHBISHOP OF SINGAPORE: He's saying many things but we need to listen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: All right, we're going to be live from Vatican City beginning tomorrow night for this incredible story right in the middle of the action in the Sistine Chapel, that's where the Cardinals are going to hold their Conclave as you can see on this diagram and Casa Santa Marta, that is where the Cardinals are going to be staying. And of course, they will be sequestered, unable to even use their phones for the duration of this Conclave.

Thanks so much for joining us. "AC360" with Anderson begins now.

[20:00:34]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Tonight on 360, President Trump or Crypto King? How about both -- the President's new foray into cryptocurrency and the door that opens, critics say, to corruption on a big scale.

Also tonight, a court setback for his deportation agenda, even as he says, I don't know, when asked if he'd provide due process for deportees or even uphold the Constitution.

And later, a report from Israel as the army there prepares to expand operations in Gaza for what the Prime Minister says will not be just an in and out mission.

Good evening, thanks for joining us.

We begin tonight keeping them honest with the President's new line of work. Now, you might be saying, wait a minute, a President is supposed to have a new line of work, and you'd be right in normal times but it's pretty clear these are not that. So, yes, in addition to being President, Mr. Trump is deep now in the cryptocurrency business, as is his wife, as are his sons. And tonight he's at his golf club outside Washington hosting a crypto

industry fundraiser. The price tag for admission, $1.5 million a plate. He's got another event coming up, a dinner for top buyers of the meme coin he launched a day before his inauguration. He was asked about his coin over the weekend by Kristen Welker of NBC News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS, HOST, MODERATOR OF "MEET THE PRESS": What do you say to those who argue that when they hear that, they worry you're profiting from the presidency?

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I'm not profiting from anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Not profiting from anything, now, that remains to be seen. No incoming chief executive has ever launched a money making venture the day before taking office or one for his wife, as he did just days later.

What presidents until this one have done as Jimmy Carter did with his peanut farm in 1977, is put their businesses into a blind trust to avoid even the perception of any conflict of interest. That now seems quaint. The dinner tonight the money goes to a Super PAC. But the question on the meme coin is where that money goes.

In order to show -- make a show of avoiding the perception of a conflict of interest, he made an effort to avoid the perception of a conflict of interest during his first term. There was no blind trust, but he left his two oldest sons in charge of his companies, though no one was permitted to see the piles of what he said was the paperwork documenting it all.

There were concerns raised during the first term about other possible conflicts. You may remember headlines like this in "The Washington Post" Saudi funded lobbyists paid for 500 rooms at Trump's hotel after 2016 election. And this in POLITICO, Air Force crew made an odd stop on a routine trip, Trump's Scottish resort, or in "Forbes," Trump's business hauled in $2.4 billion during four years he served as President.

Now, to be clear, not all of that money ended up in Donald Trump's pocket, and not all of it came in because he was President, though enough certainly did to keep investigative reporters and forensic accountants busy for years. Yet all that could soon be pocket change compared to the money he could be about to make from cryptocurrency, which he once scoffed at.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: A Bitcoin, just seems like a scam. I don't like it because it's another currency competing against the dollar.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: Well, that was Donald Trump three years ago on Fox Business.

Today though, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: This is a tremendous opportunity for economic growth and innovation in our financial sector and will really go a long way. I think there's going to be a tremendous -- we feel like pioneers in a way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, the word "we" there is not just a figure of speech. "We" means him and not, as we mentioned at the top, just with that meme coin. "The New York Times" uncovered much of this in several recent reports and we'll talk to one of the reporters in a moment.

So, take a look, this is the About Us section of the cryptocurrency company, World Liberty Financial, which is offering a cryptocurrency called $WLFI, listed as the company's chief crypto advocate is Donald J. Trump, with sons Eric, Don, Jr. and Barron listed as web ambassadors and three of the co-founders, his Russia and Mideast Envoy Steve Witkoff, and his sons, Zach and Alex. Here's Don, Jr. talking up crypto recently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP'S SON AND VICE PRESIDENT OF TRUMP ORGANIZATION: You know, you can transfer millions and millions and millions of dollars' worth of Bitcoin overseas, you know, while having a glass of wine with your wife at 11 o'clock at night. That's a beautiful thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Sorry, I misspoke that, obviously, it was Eric. Something seemingly more beautiful, at least for him, can be found in the site's fine print. It says that the Trump and Trump family affiliated entity called D.T. Marques DFI, LLC, is entitled to receive fees "equal to 75 percent of $WLFI token sale proceeds after deduction of agreed reserves, expense and other amounts."

Now, just a few days ago, at a cryptocurrency conference in Dubai, Zach Witkoff, again the son of the President's envoy, announced that a fund backed by Abu Dhabi would be using $2 billion worth of those same tokens for a business deal of which, if that fine print is to be believed and followed, 75 percent of the proceeds of the sale would go to that Trump affiliated company.

[20:05:26]

So now, not only is Donald Trump a major cryptocurrency seller, he's also running the government that regulates it. And so far, he's done plenty to benefit his new industry, most notably by announcing a federal crypto strategic reserve by gutting the agency, which once protected consumers and small investors against financial scams, and by eliminating the Justice Department agency policing the crypto business.

Quoting from the Department of Justice memo, "Consistent with the narrowing of the enforcement policy relating to digital assets, the market integrity and major frauds unit shall cease cryptocurrency enforcement in order to focus on other priorities such as immigration and procurement frauds. The National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team shall be disbanded effective immediately."

So, the bottom line, the President of the United States is making policy which directly affects a business that he and his family stand to profit from, which foreign governments can use, and apparently already have used to put money into his pocket or his family's pocket. With all that, who even needs a hotel?

CNN Chief White House Correspondent, Kaitlan Collins starts us off tonight. What is the White House saying about the crypto ventures?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Officially, we got a statement from the spokesperson for the White House earlier, who just noted that all the President's assets are in a trust that is being managed by his children. They're saying there are no conflicts of interest here, but it is raising real questions.

One, you mentioned that the money that is being raised at the dinner that he's at right now, that's happening tonight, which is close to a million -- over a million dollars --

COOPER: Which is a lot by I mean, yes --

COLLINS: -- like, a-million-and-a-half -- yes it is an extraordinary amount, even by the spending that we saw from both sides in the campaign last year.

But the question is, you know, that is going to a super PAC that is the President's super PAC. It's his -- the one that's aligned with him. Obviously, he's not running for a third term, as he said recently.

So, there's a question of what that money is going to and what that's going to look like. But it does speak to just the broader culture overall. This is a huge change that has happened since Trump was last in office and how, you know, crypto is being approached inside his administration.

He's brought in David Sacks, who has been kind of leading that and has growing influence in Washington on this front. But also, you see that people are seeing this as maybe lighter regulation and making this more mainstream and really trying to take advantage of this moment.

There is definitely a culture shift in terms of who is surrounding the President in this time around, or working in his administration that believes that they can they can further this. And so, I think there's questions of what that looks like. And then also, keep in mind, he is traveling to the UAE next week.

He's aligned to crypto fund, just got a $2 billion in backing from a fund that's aligned and backed by the UAE in Abu Dhabi. And so, there's a question there of what that looks like as well. But you're just seeing the growing influence and how much this is changing, which is not something we saw the last time that he was in office.

COOPER: Yes, Kaitlan Collins, thanks very much, appreciate it. Kaitlan's guest on "The Source" is Mike Pence, former Vice President, that will be at the top of the hour.

Joining me now, "New York Times" investigative reporter Eric Lipton, who's on the byline of their reporting. Also, Norm Eisen, co-founder and executive chair of the State Democracy Defenders Fund, a nonprofit election watchdog. He's also a former counsel to House Democrats in President Trump's first impeachment, is involved in 60 lawsuits against the Trump administration, including four filed today, you've been busy.

Eric, let's start with you. Can you just explain -- I mean, you are reporting "The Times" has been remarkable on this. How much President Trump himself do we know is profiting from these ventures, specifically this World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency company that he and his sons recently unveiled, because you got the fine print there, about 75 percent, do we know how much that actually benefits the President?

ERIC LIPTON, "THE NEW YORK TIMES" INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, the $2 billion, much of it is going to go into short-term treasuries, because the whole idea of a stable coin, which is where that money is going to go, is that you can assure the investor that it's going to be a one to one dollar consistently.

So, the way you do that is put most of that into short-term treasuries. So three percent on $2 million is already tens of millions of dollars a year in yield, and that yield -- the interest that they're going to earn on that goes to World Liberty Financial. And most of that is going to go to the Trump family and its business partners.

So, that's already tens of millions of dollars that's going to be produced just from the $2 billion coming from, you know, from Abu Dhabi. So, and you know, in the meme coin, which is another of the two crypto businesses, there's at least more than $100 million in transaction fees that have been generated from the purchases and sales of the meme coin, which are essentially a collectible, that's centered around Donald Trump himself, around, the notion of fight, fight, fight, that's the theme of his meme coin.

So, those are two different businesses. I saw Eric Trump at the Trump Doral Resort a few weeks ago and asked him about how the crypto business is going. He says it's one of the best businesses they've ever started. It's very -- it's generating a lot of revenue for the family.

COOPER: So, even if they're not selling their cryptocurrency at this point, which I think there are some time limits on, when they hold a lot of crypto of this meme coin and then they have to wait a certain amount of time to sell it, they make money every time it is traded? [20:10:27]

LIPTON: Yes, there's a small transaction fee every time someone is buying and selling it, which they get a cut of. And so while, yes, they control 80 percent of the meme coin, they haven't yet sold any of that meme coin and if they were to sell a large amount of it, the price would crash. But on -- that's for the meme coin operation. One of two of their crypto businesses.

The second business, they've sold $550 million worth of tokens at World Liberty Financial and a certain amount of those token revenues are going to go to the Trump family and its partners and separate from that, it's quite complicated. They have this stable coin that has at least $2 billion of transactions coming in, and they're going to generate yield on that $2 billion.

So, a lot of different ways they're making money, but they're making money. It makes the dollars that were made at the Trump Hotel in D.C. seem really trivial. You know, kind of an almost an afterthought. The scale of the money making here is like enormously larger.

COOPER: Well, Norman, I mean, the White House says there's no conflict of interest, are there?

NORM EISEN, SENIOR FELLOW IN GOVERNANCE STUDIES AT THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION AND CO-FOUNDER OF STATES UNITED DEMOCRACY CENTER: Like, so many things this White House says, Anderson, that's false. There's a massive conflict of interest here, because first of all, you have the President in charge of regulating this industry. And while there is a place for digital currency in the financial marketplace -- Anderson, we know that this is a currency that's used at times for illicit purposes. Drugs, human trafficking, money laundering, all things that this administration is supposed to be against and that the American people oppose.

So, if Donald Trump is bringing down regulation on crypto, that creates a conflict of interest with the American people and these policy areas. But it doesn't stop there. Then, there's the foreign governments. Look at these transactions with the UAE. He's traveling there shortly. How do we know that those massive transactions are not intended to influence the President? So, that's a problem.

When you roll it all together, Anderson, it's a conflict so serious that it offends the one conflicts rule that was so important that the founders and framers put it in the Constitution. A president is not supposed to be getting anything of value from a foreign government, it's called the Emoluments Clause.

COOPER: Eric, I'm old enough to remember when Jimmy Carter's brother sold Billy Beer and there was a huge outcry over his brother profiting off the President. I mean, I don't think Billy Beer really was a big money maker, but the idea that he would make money off the presidency, that seems -- I mean -- that just seems ridiculous now.

In your piece today, in "The Times," you focus on two of the Presidents sons, Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump, they've been traveling the world the past two weeks and what kind of deals are they making?

LIPTON: It's pretty extraordinary. I mean, we've already talked about the crypto businesses, but that's just a small piece of what's going on. You know, Don, Jr. is part owner of a new club in D.C. called the Executive Branch. Not a coincidence. It's obviously named after the White House, $500,000.00 per person.

It's effectively a Mar-a-Lago in D.C., and, you know, there will be, you know, there will be political people, there will be lobbyists, there will be corporate executives, there will be crypto people. There will be members of the administration, including David Sacks, who is a founding member of the club. There will be no media and no one from the public, that will be in Georgetown at this new club and Donald Trump, Jr. Is a part owner of it, that's one of them.

And then in Dubai there's a new -- in Trump International Hotel that they're opening, they're opening another one in Qatar, there's another one in elsewhere in Oman. I mean, there are six different deals that they have struck recently with the Saudi based real estate company and another deal in Vietnam. So, the Trump family has accelerated its deal making and Don, Jr. was traveling across Europe for what he calls the Trump Business Vision 2025 and paid speeches that he was giving.

He met with a cryptocurrency executive whose company had been sued by the SEC and paid a large fine and left the United States marketplace. He was paid to be there, as that executive announced, we're returning to the United States. So, they're looking for opportunities to make money pretty much across the world, in the United States and Europe and in the Middle East.

COOPER: Yes, it's fascinating. I so appreciate your reporting at "The New York Times," Eric Lipton, thank you, Norm Eisen as well.

Just ahead, the start of jury selection in the Sean "Diddy" Combs trial, what jurors were asked and what kind of evidence some of it graphic they could be expected to see.

And next, the President says he doesn't know if he has to uphold the constitution. That's not the only thing he says, he doesn't know.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WELKER: Your Secretary of State says everyone who's here, citizens and noncitizens deserve due process. Do you agree Mr. President?

TRUMP: I don't know, I'm not a lawyer. I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:19:57]

COOPER: Another legal setback for the President's immigration agenda. Federal appeals court today ruling to keep in place a hold on the administration's attempt to end parole for nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

The panel of judges expressed skepticism that Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem had the power to end the parole program. It's the latest example of the judiciary checking executive power.

Now, the President, as you know, is facing a series of court rulings on deportations, including a unanimous one from the Supreme Court, that he must facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported to El Salvador without the due process, which is guaranteed to everyone in this country under the Fifth Amendment.

[20:20:36]

Now, the term due process basically means ensuring people are treated fairly in their rights to protect it, and the government follows correct procedures when dealing with someone in a case. And the officials, attorneys in courts are constantly defining and redefining just what due process means in any particular case. It seems the President has doubts or is unsure about the entire concept of it. Here he is over the weekend on NBC's "Meet The Press."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WELKER: Your Secretary of State says everyone who is here, citizens and non-citizens deserve due process. Do you agree, Mr. President?

TRUMP: I don't know. I'm not a lawyer. I don't know.

WELKER: Well, the Fifth Amendment says --

TRUMP: I don't know, it seems it might say that. But if you're talking about that, then we'd have to have a million or two million or three million trials.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, keeping them honest, that's not actually accurate. Migrants typically get hearings, not full trials, and they're handled by an immigration court, not the regular criminal court. Due process for migrants could simply be a brief hearing before a judge or magistrate, the kind that a bipartisan immigration bill called for funding many more of. The President, as you know, made sure that bill died on the vine during the campaign.

In any case, the Constitution is clear on this. According to the Fifth Amendment, no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, that's the constitution.

Again, you can argue over just what constitutes due process, as lawyers and judges have over generations. But saying I don't know to the entire notion is not really an option for the President of the United States. It would be as if the President said that he didn't know he needed to uphold the Constitution, which is what he did go on to say, actually, just a second later, and answer to a question from Kristen Welker.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WELKER: But even given those numbers that you're talking about, don't you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as President?

TRUMP: I don't know, I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: That was not a hard question, don't you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as President of the United States. This country's founding document, I don't know, is what he said, which is weird, because he had a chance to say those same words. I don't know, just a few months ago, with his right hand in the air, as did his Vice President and everyone in his Cabinet. Listen to this and see if you hear anyone saying, I don't know.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I, Donald. John Trump, do solemnly swear and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend.

JOHN ROBERTS, U.S. SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE: The Constitution of the United States.

TRUMP: The Constitution of the United States.

Preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States.

TULSI GABBARD, U.S. DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: I, Tulsi Gabbard, do solemnly swear.

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: ... that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I will support --

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: And defend --

J.D. VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: -- the Constitution of the United States.

RUBIO: The Constitution of the United States.

VANCE: ...that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: They all seem to know that was the job. Seth Moulton took a similar oath when he was sworn in as Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts. I spoke to him just before air.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Congressman, the President won't commit to upholding the

Constitution, but also says he relies on his lawyers and that they'll obey the Supreme Court. How do you reconcile that?

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): You don't reconcile it. Trump has never agreed to follow the Constitution. And you just have to understand this, look, you, as an American voter can support Donald Trump, but you can't support Donald Trump and the Constitution.

He forgot his oath the minute he took it and it's the same oath, by the way, that I took as a United States Marine, that every veteran has taken an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Imagine if you went up to an Army Private and said, do you actually intend to uphold your oath? And he said, I don't know. Or you went up to a police officer on the street and said, hey, you just got sworn in as a police officer, are you going to uphold the law? And he said, I don't know. That's what the President of the United States is telling everyone in the world today.

COOPER: I mean, in your mind, I assume some will argue, we'll look, he was trolling his critics, or he was just, you know, sort of batting away the question by saying, I don't know. You actually believe he either doesn't know or isn't interested in upholding the Constitution?

MOULTON: No, I don't believe that he doesn't know. I believe that he's not interested, that he's not interested in upholding the Constitution. He's not interested in upholding the law.

COOPER: Do you believe the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment applies to all individuals physically inside the borders of the United States, as opposed to citizens only?

MOULTON: That's what everyone has said, you know, and that's what the Constitution is pretty clear about and it could be that everyone before us was wrong, Anderson. Every president was wrong, every member of Congress was wrong and Donald Trump is just so brilliant that this guy who went around the country bankrupting casinos just got constitutional law better than the rest of us. Or it could be that Trump is not following the law based on his history, based on his criminal history. Which do you think is the case?

[20:25:40]

COOPER: We just did a story earlier tonight about the President's cryptocurrency ventures. Not only is he a major cryptocurrency seller and will be profiting and his family members as well, his entire family, it seems. He's also running the government that regulates it. How big a concern do you think this is? Because I feel like it hasn't gotten a lot of attention until recently.

MOULTON: No, it hasn't gotten a lot of attention, Anderson, because he's doing so many other bad things that are potentially even more dangerous. In this case, he's just profiting off of his position, something that under any other president would have been a huge cause for alarm. Of course, this is exactly the charge he made against Biden, even though he could never substantiate it.

But the reality is that Trump and his family are profiting seriously off of this. And I think that over time, we're going to see that this is a very corrupt administration, not just a lawless one. It's just that when he's actually breaking the laws and putting people's lives in danger, it's an even more urgent concern and that's why that's the focus right now.

COOPER: I want to ask you about the Turkish student at Tufts University taken into custody by masked plainclothes officers on the street in your home State of Massachusetts, going back in March. She's still being detained, it's believed to stem from an op-ed she co-wrote in a student newspaper urging the school to divest from entities with ties to Israel.

Now, an appeals court panel, they're scheduled to hear arguments about her status tomorrow. Do you know anything more about her fate?

MOULTON: No, and we've been asking a lot of questions. The delegation in Massachusetts. So many people who are concerned about her and concerned about everyone else who might write an op-ed someday disagreeing with the Trump administration and could find themselves whisked off the street.

If you look at this video, Anderson, it doesn't look like something that could happen in America. It looks like a video from China or North Korea or Iran. But that's the streets of America, and that's the country that Donald Trump is trying to make for all of us.

COOPER: And just lastly, "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting tonight that the Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, in their words, used Signal more extensively for official Pentagon business than previously disclosed. "The Journal" went on to say that engaging in at least a dozen separate chats, people familiar with his management practices said. In one case, he told aides on the encrypted app to inform foreign governments about an unfolding military operation, the people said.

Now, again, that's according to "The Journal." CNN has not independently corroborated it. Do you have any reason to think this will make any change in his job security?

MOULTON: It doesn't seem to, it seems that Trump wants to keep Hegseth around. If Trump is breaking the law, he likes to surround himself with other lawbreakers, and Pete Hegseth is clearly breaking the law. He has no accountability for his own behavior. He said he was going to bring accountability back to the Department of Defense. Well, apparently that doesn't apply to him. And as a result, we have a secretary of defense who is himself a risk to our National Security.

COOPER: Congressman Seth Moulton, thanks for your time.

MOULTON: Good to see you, Anderson.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: The Pentagon inspector general has launched a formal

investigation into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's use of Signal. He's not been charged with any crimes.

Next, jury selection in the trial that could, if he's convicted, send Sean "Diddy" Combs to prison for the rest of his life.

And later, Israel calling up reservists, announcing plans for a massive effort to move all Gazans yet again to Southern Gaza. A report from Israel ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:33:50]

COOPER: In a federal courtroom here in New York, jury selection is underway in the Sean "Diddy" Combs trial. The one-time hip-hop mogul is accused of sex trafficking, racketeering, conspiracy, and other charges for alleged crimes that span over two decades. Combs has pleaded not guilty.

Thirty prospective jurors were questioned today about the case, including whether they've seen the video that we're about to show you. We warn you, it's going to be tough to watch. The 2016 hotel surveillance video obtained by CNN shows Combs dragging and kicking a now-former girlfriend who's set to testify against him. Several potential jurors said they had seen it. One who called it damning evidence was dismissed.

CNN's Kara Scannell has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a bombshell. Sean "Diddy" Combs' former longtime girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, filing a lawsuit in November 2023, accusing the music mogul of beating her and forcing her to have sex with male prostitutes while he watched.

The allegations shattered Combs' image as a hip-hop icon. The founder of Bad Boy Records --

SEAN "DIDDY" COMBS, HIP-HOP ICON: I have a lot of potential.

SCANNELL (voice-over): -- and a tabloid fixture for his star-studded white parties had been awarded a key to New York City just two months earlier.

COMBS: I want to thank you all for this honor and just recognizing me.

SCANNELL (voice-over): But the explosive allegations caught the attention of federal prosecutors who opened a criminal investigation.

[20:35:06]

Federal agents searched Combs' homes in Miami and Los Angeles in March of 2024, seizing items including his phones, three AR-15s with the serial number scratched off, and over 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant. Then, in September 2024, Combs was arrested and charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution.

DAMIAN WILLIAMS, U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: Combs abused, threatened, and coerced victims to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.

SCANNELL (voice-over): Prosecutors allege multiple women were given drugs and coerced into having sex with male prostitutes in arrangements known as freak-offs.

WILLIAMS: The freak-offs sometimes lasted days at a time, involved multiple commercial sex workers, and often involved a variety of narcotics, such as ketamine, ecstasy, and GHB, which Combs distributed to the victims to keep them obedient and compliant.

SCANNELL (voice-over): Authorities allege Combs dangled one woman off a balcony and violently beat others, including Ventura. This hotel surveillance footage obtained by CNN shows Combs throwing Ventura to the ground, kicking and dragging her, leading Combs to apologize in this Instagram video.

COMBS: My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I'm so sorry.

SCANNELL (voice-over): Ventura and three other accusers are expected to testify against him. Combs has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers insist all of Combs' sexual encounters have been consensual.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His spirits are good. He's confident. He is dealing with this head-on, the way he's dealt with every challenge in his life, and he's not guilty. He's innocent of these charges.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COOPER: And CNN's Kara Scannell joins me, along with New York Criminal Defense Attorney Arthur Aidala and Former Federal Prosecutor Jessica Roth, who serve in the Southern District of New York. Jessica, I want to start off with you, and I want to start with that 2016 hotel surveillance video, which is so disturbing.

But it's important because the attorney for Combs, or one of the attorneys, called it probably the single most important piece of evidence in this case. And, I mean, we've shown this to you. It's Combs kicking, dragging his now former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. She is expected to testify. Are you surprised that the Combs lawyer calls it the most important piece of evidence?

JESSICA ROTH, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NY: I'm not, because I think objectively that's true. And I think what they're trying to focus on now is who's already been exposed to it and to what extent has it influenced the jurors' preconceptions about Combs' guilt, because what they're looking for here are 12 jurors and alternates who can be fair and impartial and try the case based on the evidence presented in court and the arguments. And anyone who's been exposed to that video in the absence of the rules of evidence being enforced under instructions by the judge and arguments by the attorneys may already have formed an opinion that can't be shaken about his guilt, as apparently at least one juror said today.

COOPER: Well, I mean, Arthur, you know, you hear the one juror, or potential juror said -- called it damning evidence and was dismissed. I'm not sure what else you would say about it. I mean, it's got to be damning evidence.

ARTHUR AIDALA, NEW YORK CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It's damning evidence. Look --

COOPER: It seemed pretty obvious.

AIDALA: Here's what you're trying to do. You're trying to get --

COOPER: You're speaking as a defense attorney.

AIDALA: Correct.

COOPER: Yes.

AIDALA: But it's actually both sides to some degree. You want people who have the least amount of information about the case, the least amount of outside information. So, hypothetically, if there was a documentary on Netflix or a special on CNN, you don't want the people who have seen that.

If there's a book, you don't want the people who've seen the book. You want -- over at the book. You want people with a clean slate as much as possible. And look, Anderson, in federal court, usually it's just the judge that picks the jury. But here, he's allowing the defense attorney and the prosecutor to ask questions of the potential jurors who have some exposure to this to see whether they can be fair or impartial.

COOPER: But it's still up to the judge?

AIDALA: No.

COOPER: Or they get a say?

AIDALA: They get a big say. They ask the judge -- if someone says, yes, I saw it, and I think it's horrible, then you -- the defense says, Your Honor, I'd ask that this person be struck for cause, and then that's up to the judge to decide or not.

COOPER: And Kara, what -- Combs was in court today. What was he like?

SCANNELL: Yes, I mean, he's sitting through jury selection. It started a little late, and it was still pretty early, and they'd only questioned a few jurors. And Combs' attorney asked for a bathroom break. The judge was a little hesitant to grant it. He's like, we just got going. But then Combs leaned into the microphone and said to the judge, "I'm a little nervous today". And so he asked to take a break so he could go to the bathroom or just clear his head and then come back in. I mean, you know, he's sitting there throughout this, listening to people and their opinions of him.

One juror who was excused said that his wife had worked on litigation involving Combs 20 years ago and didn't like him. And so that person was dismissed. Another person who had seen the video was still -- was kept still in this pool of jurors because her impressions of it, she didn't reach as much of a conclusion as that other juror who described it as damning evidence. And, of course, this will continue to until they get that jury.

[20:40:09]

COOPER: What do you think -- is there a benefit to have the client sitting there watching the jury, watching the prospective jurors?

ROTH: Oh, absolutely. I mean, in part, it's just humanizing him as an individual so that, you know, to the extent that they know anything of him having come into this courtroom, now they're seeing him in a very different posture and as a human being, who they may be put in a position of having to judge whether he's going to be losing his liberty. And so I think it is important to have the potential jurors actually confront the reality of an individual as opposed to the image that they may have conjured.

AIDALA: And, Anderson, like --

COOPER: As a defense attorney, do you read how the prospective jurors are looking at him?

AIDALA: Yes. And you know what you learn, Anderson, when you've done it here as long as I have? I'm wrong all the time. Like, I am so -- like, the jurors are all like, yes, they're with us, they turned out to be the ones against us. But the one thing for sure, and right now, tomorrow morning, I'll be sitting next to Harvey Weinstein in the state courthouse, I make sure they know those jurors are going to be making -- looking at every move you make.

So when the evidence comes out and someone says something and you write it down to a juror, like, oh, that must be important because Mr. Weinstein or Sean just wrote this down, so, you know, be careful of all that. When you lean in to talk to me, just be cognizant because jurors aren't allowed to ask us questions. Jurors aren't allowed to talk to us.

So they have to read our body language to figure out, well, does this matter? Because there's a lot of boring stuff in a trial. So they're trying to figure out, well, what's important and what's not important. And the defendant's demeanor is very important.

COOPER: And a trial like this can go on for a long time.

ROTH: Yes, I think the projections for this one are eight weeks. These is -- these are sprawling allegations. There will clearly be several victims will be testifying. Other people who were alleged have been part of the RICO conspiracy. So I expect this will go on for several months.

COOPER: And Kara, were attorneys actually -- excuse me, were jurors actually selected today, or did they announce that? How many they've actually picked?

SCANNELL: So what the judge said is he wants to get to 45 qualified jurors, those that are no -- that are not being struck for cause. They didn't see anything that suggested they were not going to be fair and partial. And once he has that pool of 45, then the lawyers, both Combs and the prosecutors, will use their preemptive strikes.

So then they each will have a set number of people that they can eliminate for almost any reason until there are the 12 jurors and the alternates that are selected. And the judge thinks that could happen by Wednesday if this process is moving along at the pace that it is.

And just on the other aspect of the jurors looking at Combs, I mean, one thing that struck me is we see these videos and these images of P. Diddy, and now he is almost entirely gray. He looks so different in the courtroom from the matter of being in prison.

AIDALA: You had a problem with being gray? Is there -- do you have any issues? At least the guy's got hair. You know, that gets more than I can say.

SCANNELL: It's just, like, such a surprise, I think, for people coming in --

COOPER: Interesting.

SCANNELL: -- and seeing him in this more human state.

COOPER: And you saw them reacting -- that's interesting.

Kara Scannell, thanks so much. Arthur Aidala and Jessica Roth, thank you as well. Appreciate it.

AIDALA: Thank you, Anderson.

COOPER: Coming up next, why Israel is planning to expand operations in Gaza. And according to one official, conquer the Palestinian territory. Also, what the families of the Israeli hostage have to say about the potential mission and what it means for all the civilians in Gaza.

And later, we'll take you live to the infamous Alcatraz Prison, now a national park. President Trump talked about possibly having it rebuilt and reopened to once again hold America's most dangerous criminals. Could that actually happen? Coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:48:05] COOPER: Israel is preparing to expand military operations in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says this won't be an in- and-out mission. Instead, he insists the IDF will hold the territory. His security Cabinet approved the plan over the weekend with one minister calling it an Operation 2, in his words, conquer Gaza.

Now, as part of the plan, according to Israel, all Palestinian civilians there will be ordered to go to southern Gaza. How that's possible, given the dire conditions there and the lack of food, medicine, and shelter. Tens of thousands of Israeli reservists are being called up for the expanded operation.

According to a senior Israeli official, the mission will happen with what they call full force if no hostage deal is reached after President Trump visits other parts of the Middle East next week. Israel's goal, according to the official, is to subdue Hamas and get all the hostages back home. The U.N. is warning it'll mean the deaths of more civilians, and the hostages' family forum says any escalation in fighting will put the 59 Israelis still held in Gaza in immediate danger.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us from Tel Aviv with more.

Is it clear exactly how Israeli forces would move the population of northern Gaza to the south to make room for this new military action? I mean, who's going to -- and where's the food to feed them going to come from?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Israeli prime minister said that he wouldn't discuss the details of how this is going to happen as he described what will be the latest mass displacement of Palestinians within the Gaza Strip. But if you look at the past, it will likely be evacuation orders followed very swiftly by artillery fire, airstrikes, and the movement of ground troops.

And what Israel has also done in the past is choked off certain areas of aid, for example. And clearly, aid will play a role here as Israel and the United States are looking at a new mechanism in order to get humanitarian aid into the Strip. But perhaps more importantly for Israel, for Israel to be able to control where that aid is going, where it is being distributed, Israel says that this is intended to keep the aid from being diverted to Hamas.

[20:50:07]

Humanitarian organizations, though, insist that the overwhelming majority of aid does make it to the Palestinian people in Gaza, to civilians who desperately need that aid right now. And they say they won't participate with this kind of a mechanism that they say doesn't uphold the concepts of international humanitarian law and neutrality.

But it's clear that this mechanism could be used to lure certain Palestinians away from certain areas and towards others as well. That could be a new factor in this latest operation.

COOPER: Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much. Coming up next, a live report from Alcatraz.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Trump wants to turn this island into a working prison. We have seen various states of disrepair in all of the buildings. We kind of take a look at what's realistic here.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:55:39]

COOPER: You can call it a diversion or amusing, but President Trump announced in a social media post that his administration would open the notorious prison Alcatraz, writing in part, "I'm directing the Bureau of Prisons together with the Department of Justice, FBI and Homeland Security to reopen and substantially enlarged and rebuilt Alcatraz, to house America's most ruthless and violent offenders".

Now, it seems very unlikely to actually happen, but at a White House event, Mr. Trump riffed a little more on the meaning and message of Alcatraz.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It represents something very strong, very powerful in terms of law and order. Our country needs law and order. Alcatraz is, I would say, the ultimate, right? Right now, it's a big hulk that's sitting there rusting and rotting.

Very -- you look at it, it's sort of -- I mean, you saw that picture that was put out. It's sort of amazing. But it sort of represents something that's both horrible and beautiful and strong and miserable, weak.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

COOPER: So many things. Veronica Miracle is on location inside Alcatraz for us tonight with a closer look at the infamous prison and a bit of a fact check on the president's plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

MIRACLE (voice-over): Alcatraz, one of the nation's most notorious prisons.

MIRACLE: Notorious for being a prison that no one really could escape from, but it's not because it's surrounded by shark-infested waters, which it is. It was the distance to land, as well as the cold, frigid waters and the very choppy, turbulent seas that made it nearly impossible to escape.

MIRACLE (voice-over): This site inspiring President Donald Trump to make an ambitious proposal to return some of the nation's most violent offenders to what's known as The Rock.

TRUMP: Nobody's ever escaped from Alcatraz.

MIRACLE: It's a historical site. These bars are rusting. The piping and the toilets, I mean, that toilet is falling apart, but there's actually no running water here. None of the pipes are connected.

MIRACLE (voice-over): Alcatraz is a popular San Francisco tourist destination that welcomes about 1.5 million visitors every year and annually generates $60 million.

MIRACLE: This is the oldest cell block on the island. It was last used in the 1930s, and all of this is original from when it was built.

MIRACLE (voice-over): Once a California federal penitentiary, Alcatraz closed in 1963 after almost three decades in operation because, according to the Bureau of Prisons, it was too expensive to continue operating, and it was nearly three times more expensive to operate than any other federal prison. Infamous inmates like Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, the Birdman of Alcatraz, and James Whitey Bulger added to the prison's allure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a hostage situation on Alcatraz.

MIRACLE (voice-over): This island prison was the setting for multiple blockbusters, including "The Rock", "Murder in the First", and Clint Eastwood's "Escape from Alcatraz".

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I may have found a way out of here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me too.

MIRACLE (voice-over): The 1979 movie was based on a true story, a legendary escape attempt from Alcatraz.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The escape triggered the greatest manhunt in San Francisco's history.

MIRACLE (voice-over): But there was no evidence that inmates ever made it off the island alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one has ever escaped from Alcatraz, and no one ever will.

MIRACLE (voice-over): Restoring Alcatraz into a working prison would be an enormous undertaking.

MIRACLE: This island is not hooked up to utilities to the city, so there's no running water here. Just to keep it open every day as it stands is very difficult logistically.

MIRACLE (voice-over): But despite questions about the economic feasibility, the Bureau of Prisons moved quickly to respond to the proposal in a statement saying they will vigorously pursue all avenues to support and implement the president's agenda. The conservancy, which oversees Alcatraz, fired back saying in a statement, "There is no law, plan, or funding in place, nor a clear path to revise Alcatraz Island's current role and purpose".

So for now, the future of the notorious prison remains uncertain.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COOPER: And Veronica Miracle joins us now from Alcatraz. It's -- this is an island. It's -- there's limited space. He's talking -- the president was talking about making it bigger. Is there space to make it bigger?

MIRACLE (on-camera): Well, Anderson, it's 22 acres, and we've been all around the island today. The buildings are in various states of disrepair. You can see this one is just ruins behind me of the building -- still standing. I'm told they would have to be completely probably built -- rebuilt from the ground up, not even renovated.

And if you just take a look, we're right here on the cliff's edge. So in terms of building out, there's really no space to go. It's a rocky, small island, Anderson. Back to you.

COOPER: All right. Veronica Miracle, thanks very much.

The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.